CCleaner Review

This CCleaner review is the easiest I have ever written. I have used CCleaner to speed up my and streamline my computers for many years. This review is heavily biased because I could only find one “Con.” There are many Computer (windows 10), PC and Mac cleaners on the net and I have never found any which did not try and cheat me by claiming a long list of problems they had found. CCleaner does not do this.

CCleaner Overview 2018

CCleaner Speeds Up Computers.

To speed up a computers reaction, they store a lot of temporary files. This is so that instead of accessing pictures and web-pages every time you switch from one to another, the computer opens the last stored picture and modifies it to keep it up to date.

If you are going cross-eyed and have no idea what I am talking about. Do not worry. It does not matter. You will quickly understand how the basic CCleaner works.

Trust me that your computer is constantly storing temporary images and documents all the time you use it. It is constantly keeping track of

Where you have been on the net.

What files you have accessed

What you have written and

What you have deleted.

And there is more but I do not want you drifting of into a hypnotic trance of boredom.

The point is this: your computer will eventually get overloaded with temporary files that you no longer need. Your registry can become clogged up with unused bits of data.

When Does My Computer Need Cleaning?

CCleaner can be used to clear out all or some of the unwanted files at any time.

I personally run it every time I shut down and after a heavy session on the internet.

There are a lot of settings so that you can choose what to remove and what not to remove. I recommend you untick everything except:

Internet Explorer: “Temporary Internet Files” / “Cookies”

System: “Empty recycle bin” / “Temporary Files” / “Clipboard”.

Just to get you safely started.

Clearing out unwanted stuff speeds up your computer.

Why Limit CCleaner to Just a Few Unwanted File Categories?

This is because this software really works and it works fast.

You press the “Analyze” button and a list will appear showing you how much memory can be saved under each category.

Nothing happens until you press “Run Cleaner.”

Then, in a matter of seconds, it is all gone.

The trick is to get rid of the large quantities of files and learn what the other categories do, slowly. For example, you can delete your file history from I.E. and Office documents. These are the most recent files you accessed. A lot of people are quite happy to leave those since it can be quicker than finding the file and opening it again next time.

If you often go back to the same files, the same locations, having a readymade list of recent files can be an advantage, so you might not want those deleted.

Just stick to the settings above in the beginning.

You will quickly find what you want to keep and what to empty out.

Registry Cleaner in CCleaner.

There is a Tab for “Registry,” which I recommend you leave completely alone unless you really know what you are doing. Do not even play with it. You could potentially stop your computer working if you get it wrong.

You can back up your registry in CCleaner before correcting entries. I would leave it alone until you learn something about the registry.

Tools in CCleaner.

There is a tab for “Tools” which you could have a look at. The most useful menu item is the “Startup.” This gives you a list of programmes which automatically start when you first boot your computer up.

A little tip: Click on “Startup.”

Go to the column headings and click on the word “Enabled” twice.

This will show you all the programs that will boot up on starting your computer. If it says “yes” then it is enabled to start up each time. Too many things here can slow down your computer as well. BUT Be careful. Do not disable things unless you really know what you are doing. Some of them are essential for running windows etc.

“Browser Plugins” is also in the left-hand menu and will show you what is actively working all the time when you are using a browser.

Again; click on the “enabled” twice to get the “yeses” at the top and see what your browser is running. Many browser add-ons are totally unnecessary and only serve to clutter and slow down your experience whilst browsing. Be careful and only disable things you are sure of.

You can see that this piece of software, “CCleaner” is highly sophisticated and has a large amount of tools to clean up and speed up your computer.

The more complicated things will be the subject of later reviews.

The Registry in CCleaner

Keeping a computer registry free of bugs and clutter can be a boon to all computer users.

There is a tab for cleaning the registry.

Do Not Use it unless you really know what you are doing. Mistakes here are difficult to put right.

A lot of clutter in the registry is redundant bits and pieces and they can usually be removed quite safely.

If you are tempted; ensure you back up your registry before taking any action. You will automatically be asked if you want to do a backup.

The Good & the Bad of CCleaner

Any good review should look at the Pros and Cons.

The Good about CCleaner:

CCleaner is a professional clean up tool.

It has no bloat-ware, no mal-ware associated with it.

It is free. (Paid for versions available at a very reasonable cost.)

I have used the free version for years and can thoroughly recommend it.

No Ads.

It does exactly what you tell it, no more, no less.

It does not install deliberate problems which you need to pay for to have resolved.

It makes your computer run faster and more smoothly.

It improves the security on your computer.

You can remove history of URLs and files accessed if you wish. This improves security if your business handles sensitive data.

Professional Plus Version of CCleaner – Bundle Deal

*Note: CCleaner Professional Plus is the 4-in1 tool and contains: CCleaner, Defraggler, Speccy and Recuva (Professional Editions). If you would like to see all the advantages of running the Professional Plus version of CCleaner, check below this link for the Bundle Deal:

CCleaner Mac Version

There is a dedicated version for Mac users and you can get the details by checking this link:

CCleaner Business Edition

CCleaner Network Edition

This is ideal for businesses which have many computers linked together. It will clean out junk files and browser histories, speeding up the hard drives and making the network more secure. It is also possible to overwrite and so secure empty drive space.

Network Edition

This is for multiple users in the same business: 10 users, 25 users, 50 users, 100 users.

CCleaner Web Based

CCleaner Pro (Cloud based.)

CCleaner Business (Cloud Based.)

This is for unlimited computers and also gives a level of Audit reporting on top of everything else.

CCleaner Android Version for mobile phones.

My own personal experience is that the cleaning is often limited by the phones software.

If you have any direct experience of CCleaner in phones of any kind, please do leave some feedback or comment.

CCleaner Video Walk You Through

CCleaner Personal Opinion:

I have had the standalone versions of all the 4 Piriform products for years and, in my opinion, CCleaner and the sister software are a must for keeping my computers functioning as they should. Eventually I will migrate to the cloud based version.

I have tried to be as thorough as possible without going into boring detail.

There is a reason why I bought a Mac; it was not to be one of the cool kids that wanted the best of the best. No it was because of the music production I do on it. Hours and hours sitting in front of my Mac copying, pasting, moving, deleting, hour after hour just beating on my Mac in a endless assault to get my work done. That is the key part, my work. I work from home, it is great, but even if it is from home it is still work and it still needs to get done. So my Mac, I have it because it is fast, gets the job done and comes back for more.

But what happens when it doesn’t want to do those things anymore?

I move around massive amounts of information and yes even on the almighty Mac this can cause a problem after a while. Things fragment, programs get corrupted issues come up. My light speed Mac slows down to a crawl and all of the sudden I simply cannot get any work done. Because I work from home there is no IT guy to call and ask to come fix it. No instead I have to figure out what is wrong. I am lucky, I did, but not after trying everything under the sun first and wasting countless hours looking for one program that can do what I needed instead of ten programs. One program to lead them all….okay that was a lame Lord of the rings reference, but that program was/is Detox My Mac. A simple to use program that did not just fix my issues, it put my Mac on overdrive again. A few clicks and my Mac was clean and ready to rock and roll again.

Thanks, Veena.
Unfortunately for us, mere mortals, using windows, Detox My Mac is not any use and since it does not run on windows we can’t test it or compare it with CCleaner. CCleaner is, however, available for all operating systems.
CCleaner is not the one-stop answer to all PC problems. It does deal with the comment problems of excessive files and basic registry issues.
CCleaner is also excellent at showing which programs boost up when you start your PC. You can switch off the unwanted ones and speed up your PC.

Thank you for this very informative review of CCleaner. You have presented a very good case for using CCleaner and I am interested enough to look further.
However I need to ask if it will conflict with any other programs especially ant virus type programs such as AVG?
I know I have a lot of junk on my computer which will be taking up lots of space and slowing down loading.
Thank you again for sharing this very valuable information .

Ccleaner is not an anti virus. Windows builds up a lot of temporary and unwanted files in the course of its daily function.

Some of them are useful to some people.

I find it useful to keep a history of which websites I visit, in case I want to go back to one of them.

The biggest unwanted store is in the temporary files. E.G.:

Internet explorer, temporary internet files: every time you vist any location on the net, especially if there are pictures or videos, I.E. stores a snapshot of that page. The reason behind it is that IE can then quickly put it back on your screen if you go back to it. It will do a quick update which happens so fast you cannot see it.

Strangely enough, this does speed up browsing while you are actively using the PC. The problem comes with the fact that these temporary files do get deleted.

Running Ccleaner and ticking the right boxes can get rid of these files and free your hard drive up.

Great information on one of the most recommended registry cleaners in the business. It has tools needed to keep your PC clean and protected against slow down and works great with other programs like antivirus and Spybot Search and Destroy. I have AVG Internet Security Suite and the price for this cleaner is far more reasonable than their add-on. Thanks for a thorough review.

Hi and thanks for your comment. Good to hear people are using Ccleaner out there.

Do you use Defraggler once a month as well?

We find that using a lot of videos and clips fills up the temp files pretty quickly so we need to tidy up regularly with Ccleaner once a day. It depends on your level of activity and the type of files you have open.

CCleaner is a wonderful product and I use it personally for my PC needs. It is great to uninstall programs a lot easier without needing to go to my control panel all the time. Also cleans out a lot of temp files and does a great job of staying updated. I love this program, and glad you wrote a review about it!

Thanks Ryan. Me too. I also use Piriform’s Defraggler from time to time. It tidies up the hard drive and speeds up the functioning of the drive.

If you ever need to recover files that have been deleted, Recuva is really good. It works best after the drive has been defragged.

I like to use Ccleaner to check up on what programmes automatically start when I boot up. It is not necessary for many programmes to check for updates etc. when you boot up your computer. Some are necessary. Stopping some programmes from automatically starting can speed up the boot up process and reduce the number of processes going on in the background, unnecessarily..